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Saturday, 20 December 2008

Captain Caine - Draft Special Rules

With the second battle of Orks Drift little under a week away my thoughts are turning to formalising some sort of characterful special rules for Captain Caine, the commander of the defence. During the first battle he was a Heroic Senior Officer with tools from the armoury - which served him fine until he was jumped by the local Ork Special Characters the so called 'Waaaghhh Team' - he copped it in short order. Now thats not to say he should be some sort of combat monster, that would'nt fit, but perhaps a few additions to mark him out from regular officers for the purposes of the scenaio?

Captain Caine 90pts

WS4 - BS4 - S3(4) - T3 - W3 - I4 - A3 - Ld9 - Sv5+

Wargear: Heirloom Power Sabre, Plasma Pistol, Medallion Crimson

Special Rules:

Independent CharacterLeadership Rule (as per IG Codex)

Heirloom Power Sabre - A Master-crafted power sword which hits with S4 (included in profile), that also counts as a trademark item.

Stand Fast - Captain Caine is Stubborn and confers this ability to any unit he joins.

Fix Bayonets! - Captain Caine benefits from Counter-assault and confers this ability to any unit he joins.

Hows that sound? The idea is to have a support character who improves the abilities of the regular guardsmen around him, he relatively nasty in assault for a Guardsmen, but is still fragile - left unsupported he wont last long.

I feel the good Captain Caine is very reasonably priced and a nice special character to lead your men. Very helpful if you want to make a unit of conscripts into a proper tarpit unit.

The points are almost spot on in my eyes. If you take the basic cost of a heroic senior officer, minus the cost of 5 guardsmen and then add on all the pieces of equipment and he comes to about his cost. So the special rules are free but that's hardly a major issue considering he is just a guardsmen and therefore quite easy to kill. I hope you have fun with him on saturday.

Admiral Drax, I'd be very interested in seeing those, Father Witt might get finished if I get a chance lol

Anonymous & Richard, rather then working from the HSO stat cost, I went from Colonel-Commissar Gaunt with some wargear changes (costed at armoury costs). Fearless being dropped in favourite of the more appropriate Stubborn, and Front-liner in favour of Counter Assault, granted these changes probably make the character better, hence combined with the wargear changes account for the increased cost.

Independent: Witt is an independent character, but such is his unpredictability he may not join any other unit.

Rosarius: Witt’s [almost] unshakable faith in the Emperor is his shield against the onslaught of the forces of heretics. His 4+ Rosarius save is invulnerable.

Movement: Alas – the one temptation Witt could not withstand: Amasec. He has found his hidden stash to give him more courage, but his cup runneth over. Each movement turn, roll 1d6 and the scatter dice to randomize his movement. Witt must always move d6” in the direction indicated (even by a ‘hit’).

Shooting: Witt may always run as normal, but his ability to shoot is affected by his sobriety (see below).

Assault: If engaged in assault Witt will always act as normal.

Sobriety Test: The other evil of drink. Witt’s behaviour – even on the field of battle – can be erratic, to say the least. At the beginning of each turn, roll a d6:

Result:1-3 Fire and Brimstone.A moment of doubt. The Preacher’s repeated damnations and shouts of “You’re all going to die!” start to dishearten the men somewhat. All IG Infantry squads (NOT HQ units), Conscript platoons, dismounted Armoured Fist squads and Rough Riders within 6” of Witt suffer -1 Ld until Witt’s next Sobriety Test. Witt may not fire or assault this turn.

4-6 Exalted Among the Heathens.Suddenly, Witt is filled with the burning desire to inspire the men. He grabs those nearest to him and starts off reciting popular soldiers’ prayers and songs. These rapidly infect and consume those around him, and generally crank up morale, in unifying praise of the Emperor. All IG Infantry squads (NOT HQ units), Conscript platoons, dismounted Armoured Fist squads and Rough Riders within 6” of Witt enjoy +1 Ld until Witt’s next Sobriety Test. Witt may fire his weapon or assault as normal this turn.

I like it, I like it alot, nice one Admiral Drax! I do wonder if it would be worth while changing the Sobriety Test a little, perhaps having the two extremes on a 1-2 & 5-6 respectively, with him acting unremarkably on a 3-4 though? While the two extremes are certainly fun, having it slightly less likely to behave in a negative fashion makes him a whole lot more useable.

In any case I'm gonna have to find out the Fathher Witt model I started and finish him perhaps!